Re:A DIY ‘bionic pancreas’ is changing diabetes care – what'...
by iaresee on Wednesday August 30, 2023 @06:39PM
(#37330085)
Possibly. But it's more than that. You have site issues, even with one pump, that you need to navigate. There are only so many viable places on a body to attach a cannula for good absorptoin and, while small, these things aren't _tiny_ (especially the Omnipods where the site holds the cannula, pump and reservoir).
It'll be a while before we see highly reliable and well-tested dual-reservoir systems is my bet.
The complexities of balancing insulin and glucagon in a two-pump system are also high. And the feedback loop from sensors that detect BGL aren't super fast. My kid's Dexcom works on a 5 minute sample loop now. So you can't make decisions fast and when you do, you can't course correct a bad decision quickly.
I love that people are working on this stuff. The folks at https://wearenotwaiting.net/ are amazing and we even use NightScout here, but the fragility of the systems are stark and it'll be a ways to go before it's not just the brave pioneers pushing these frontiers for T1Ds.
It'll be a while before we see highly reliable and well-tested dual-reservoir systems is my bet.
The complexities of balancing insulin and glucagon in a two-pump system are also high. And the feedback loop from sensors that detect BGL aren't super fast. My kid's Dexcom works on a 5 minute sample loop now. So you can't make decisions fast and when you do, you can't course correct a bad decision quickly.
I love that people are working on this stuff. The folks at https://wearenotwaiting.net/ are amazing and we even use NightScout here, but the fragility of the systems are stark and it'll be a ways to go before it's not just the brave pioneers pushing these frontiers for T1Ds.